Augmented reality (AR) now seems like a common application when it comes to things like merchandising, gaming, or education. But Adrien Mondot and Claire Bardainne want to broaden the range of AR and apply it to stories and books. And with a custom-built AR app and a pop-up book, a new kind of interactive book emerges.
On their Kickstarter project page, Mondot and Bardainne describe their project as an experience “at the crossroads of theatre, dance, comic book, animated film and “artsy” video game.” The project features a 10-page pop-up book that the user “reads” by looking at each page through an AR app on their tablet or smartphone. The pop-up AR book is an extension of the already extant project “Acqua Alta” that already features a visual theatre performance and an immersive AR head mounted display (HMD) experience.
In an interview with Colossal, the duo explained that “After considering the AR algorithm, it was important to find a solution for the book to be a plane for each of the 10 double pages… The magic happens only when the real space and the AR space are completely synced together.”
Mondot and Bardainne continued, saying “It was very exciting to be at the border between many disciplines—theater, dance, but also comic books and animation… We are questioning the language: what does this medium allow us to express? Can we use part of the cinematographic language? Can we use some of the symbolic tools of the theater?”
Mondot and Bardainne are ultimately artists who have a vision to create an intimate experience of the arts that utilises the immersive power of AR without breaking the bank. Accordingly, their primary goal is to be able to make copies of the book available to the public for a nominal cost. In fact, as stated on their Kickstarter page, Mondot and Bardainne have no desire to make a profit off of “Acqua Alta”—”The funds collected will be used exclusively for the printing and manufacturing of the book.”
The first prototype of “Acqua Alta” is currently on tour with the rest of the “Acqua Alta” installations by Mondot and Bardainne. They hope to print their first run of 250 books in the near future.
